Gujarat · INIXY

Hull Cleaning at Kandla Port

In-water hull, propeller and survey work at Kandla Port — India's highest-tonnage bulk and liquid gateway.

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Tell us the vessel, the port and the window. Scoped reply, usually the same working day.

Cleanship Marine provides the full underwater scope at Kandla Port (INIXY), Gujarat — hull cleaning, propeller super polishing, bow and stern thruster work, class-approved in-water survey and UWILD. Every scope is carried out with the vessel afloat and on hire, at the berth or at the anchorage.

Kandla, officially Deendayal Port, is among the highest-tonnage ports in India and the principal liquid and dry bulk gateway for the north and west of the country. Tankers on edible oil and POL parcels and bulk carriers on fertiliser and grain make up most of the traffic. Cleanship keeps an operating base at Kandla, so divers, compressors and cleaning gear are held locally rather than flown in against a berth window.

Working conditions at Kandla

Kandla sits at the head of a creek off the Gulf of Kutch, where tidal streams run hard and the water carries a heavy silt load. Dive windows are worked to slack water and visibility is low, so cleaning is executed by touch with continuous surface supervision and video kept as the record rather than as the diver's guide. Vessels frequently wait at the outer anchorage before a berth slot comes free, and that waiting time in warm gulf water is where most of the fouling is picked up.

Where we work: Kandla creek berths · Oil jetties · Outer anchorage
Vessels we see here: Product and chemical tankers · Bulk carriers · General cargo ships

Hull Cleaning scopes at Kandla

5 scopes, one team and one mobilisation. Most vessels calling here take more than one on the same attendance.

Planning the window at Kandla

The south-west monsoon governs the calendar at Kandla Port, roughly June to September. Swell and reduced surface visibility close most open-water work on this coast for the duration, and the weeks either side are unreliable rather than unusable. The tidal stream and the silt load govern the method here: the working window is slack water, not the working day, and the operation is planned by feel and surface supervision with video kept as the record rather than as the diver's means of navigation.

Work is taken at the Kandla creek berths, oil jetties and outer anchorage, and which of those a vessel ends up at changes the dive plan more than the season does. Cleanship holds an operating base at Kandla, so we can hold a team ready against a shifting ETA rather than committing travel to a date that may move.

What we typically find at Kandla

Liquid and gas tonnage here spends long stretches at the terminal or waiting for a slot, so growth tends to be even and well established across the hull rather than patchy — heavier than the trading pattern suggests, and further along than a speed report alone would indicate.

Silt settles over the growth on the flat bottom and in the niches, which masks the true fouling state until the divers are actually on it. That is why the pre-clean survey here is a real step rather than a formality.

How we deliver it at Kandla

1
Scope and vessel details
Tell us the vessel, her particulars, the coating specification and the window at Kandla. We come back with a defined scope, a crew size and a duration we will stand behind. Where the conditions here will not support what has been asked for, we say so at this stage rather than after mobilisation.
2
Permits and approvals
Diving permission is obtained from Deendayal Port Authority, along with terminal approval where the berth requires it and any environmental clearance for in-water work. This is handled by us, not left with the agent to chase.
3
Mobilisation to Kandla
Cleanship holds an operating base at Kandla, so divers, compressors, brush carts and cameras are on the ground rather than in transit. That is the difference between meeting a window and missing it.
4
Safety setup and the dive
The vessel is secured for diving — main engine, shaft and thrusters immobilised, sea suctions confirmed shut, permit agreed with the master. Teams work under surface supervision with continuous diver communications and video throughout.
5
Report and handover
A completion report covering hull cleaning is issued with before-and-after imagery, coating and anode condition and anything found that you should know about. The findings are discussed with the vessel rather than emailed and forgotten.

Kandla Port at a glance

UN/LOCODE: INIXY
Port type: Major Port
State: Gujarat
Country: India
Water body: Gulf of Kutch
Port authority: Deendayal Port Authority
Main cargoes: POL and edible oils, Fertiliser and raw materials, Grain, Salt, Timber, Containers
Crew mobilisation: Kandla (IXY) / Bhuj (BHJ)
Services here: Hull Cleaning, Hold Cleaning and Tank Cleaning

Frequently asked — Kandla Port

Does Cleanship provide hull cleaning at Kandla Port?

Yes. We cover the full hull cleaning scope at Kandla Port (INIXY), Gujarat — underwater hull cleaning, propeller polishing, thruster cleaning & polishing, in-water class survey and uwild. Cleanship holds an operating base at Kandla.

What is underwater visibility like at Kandla?

Visibility at Kandla Port is habitually very low, and often close to nil at the turn, and the south-west monsoon sets the outer limits of the calendar. How the tide and sea state shape the dive plan is set out in full in the working-conditions section on this page.

Who approves hull cleaning work at Kandla?

Deendayal Port Authority issues the port-side approval at Kandla Port, with terminal approval on top where the berth requires it. We arrange both, along with any environmental clearance for in-water cleaning, so it does not fall to the agent or the master.

Which vessels call at Kandla?

Product and chemical tankers, Bulk carriers, General cargo ships — Kandla Port is India's highest-tonnage bulk and liquid gateway, handling pol and edible oils, fertiliser and raw materials, grain, salt, timber, containers. Those are the profiles we see most, and the scope is sized to the vessel rather than to a standard package.

Can this be done without taking the vessel off hire at Kandla?

Yes — that is the point of it. Every scope listed here is carried out with the vessel afloat and working, at the berth, at the anchorage or on the passage out. Divers work with the vessel afloat at the berth or the anchorage, so there is no dry dock, no diversion and no off-hire.

Do you cover other ports near Kandla?

Yes. Mundra, Navlakhi and Okha all sit within the same operating range for hull cleaning, and a single mobilisation is often sized to cover more than one vessel on the same trip. We work 46 ports on the coverage list for this line.

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